


Maleficent Comes Out of the Closet

by Saucery



Category: Maleficent (2014)
Genre: Analysis, Angst, But Not For Long!, Canon - Movie, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Closeted Character, Coming Out, Commentary, Drama, Essays, F/F, Freudian Elements, Happy Ending, Heteronormativity, Homophobia, Identity Issues, LGBTQ Themes, Love, Meta, Metaphors, Phallic Symbolism, Psychoanalysis, Queer Themes, Same-Sex Marriage, Self-Acceptance, Sexuality, Shipping, Spoilers, Subtext, Symbolism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:21:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1815091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saucery/pseuds/Saucery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An in-depth analysis of the queer symbolism of <i>Maleficent</i>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maleficent Comes Out of the Closet

* * *

 

I've been thinking about the queerness of the following scene from  _Maleficent_ :

> **Aurora:**  Don’t be afraid!
> 
> **Maleficent:**  I am not afraid.
> 
> **Aurora:**  Then come out.
> 
> **Maleficent:**  Then you’ll be afraid.

What're the odds that in a movie [so incredibly heavy](http://www.slate.com/blogs/outward/2014/06/05/maleficent_s_queer_take_on_sleeping_beauty.html) with queer symbolism, the use of the phrase "come out" wasn't deliberate?

The dialogue quoted above is phrased in such a way that it can be easily read as coming out of the closet. Aurora is asking Maleficent to "come out," but Maleficent is hesitant to, because she perceives her own queerness as somehow monstrous, even frightening to other people.

That's how she has been forced to see herself, because it is her queerness, her otherness, that has had her repeatedly victimized by heteronormative/homophobic humans all her life. They have assaulted her bodily, have taken her wings and her freedom, have declared war on her multiple times, and have sought to destroy her home and shelter (the land of the fairies, which, again, is clearly a metaphor for the queer community--I mean, come on, it's the land of the  _fairies_ ).

It is Maleficent's decidedly  _not_  straight love for Aurora that liberates her, that gives her back her wings and empowers her to free herself from queerphobia, including the queerphobia she herself has unwittingly internalized. At the end of the movie, she is shown flying freely into the sky, bathed in sunlight, out in the open and unashamed, illuminated after years of darkness spent in the closet.

The wall of thorns Maleficent had constructed was the metaphorical closet; it was a means of protecting her from a world out to get her. But Aurora makes it inside that fortress of the heart, and coaxes Maleficent out of it. It is in order to rescue Aurora that Maleficent emerges from the forest of thorns after  _decades_  spent within its confines. Maleficent cannot tolerate the thought of any harm coming to Aurora, not after having begun to love her. And so Maleficent gathers all her strength and her considerable willpower, and breaks out of the closet.

It is Maleficent's love for Aurora that saves the princess, that "awakens" her to the reality of her own sexuality. Conversely, it is Aurora's refusal to stay in the closet that allows Aurora to save Maleficent, in return. How does Aurora refuse to stay in the closet, you ask? Well, in yet  _another_  symbol for the closet, Stefan shoves Aurora into a locked room and commands that she stay there. If that ain't shoving your lesbian daughter into a closet against her will, I don't know what is. Stefan thinks he's keeping Aurora safe from Maleficent by locking her up in the closet--he thinks he's keeping Aurora safe from Maleficent's "curse" (i.e. queerness).

But Aurora doesn't stay in the room. She doesn't stay in the closet. Ironically, it is Maleficent's very "curse" (queerness) that causes Aurora to leave the room (closet) and venture out into the castle to find a spinning wheel to prick her finger on.

Let's focus on that word for a moment.

 _Prick_.

Ahem. Not to, uh, be rude, or anything, but the spindle is obviously representative of a, er, phallus. Not an  _actual_  phallus, but the act of being penetrated and of losing one's virginity. Aurora even bleeds when she is penetrated by the needle. Get it?  _She loses her virginity to Maleficent_. It's a metaphor for  _Aurora having had sex with Maleficent_ , or, at the very least, desiring sex with Maleficent.

As stated [here](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/89117914266/maleficents-antlers-stand-erect-like-curved), Maleficent's horns represent her non-straight sexuality, because antlers are usually found on males of the species, and they're phallic symbols that give Maleficent the ability to, um, penetrate. And it's not just her horns. Maleficent's magic is also a metaphor for her power and her queerness, both of which intimidate and unsettle straight folk, who would rather not have powerful ( _and empowered_ ) queer people ( _and women_ ) around them. In the Aurora-pricks-her-finger scene, Maleficent penetrates Aurora using the spindle, and takes Aurora's virginity.

The "curse" of queerness that Maleficent casts on Aurora seems at first to be a horrible thing that condemns Aurora to a lifetime of not being an active member of society (just like staying in the closet does), but the curse turns out to be a blessing in disguise. After all, it is  _that very curse_  that allows Aurora to escape from her closet and lose her virginity to another woman. It is also the curse that allows her to be given True Love's Kiss by Maleficent, thereby firmly establishing the fact that Maleficent loves Aurora more truly and intensely than any man can. Poor Prince Phillip is put in there as a smug reminder that no, not even your typical Nice Guy gets the girl in this movie. The girl gets another girl. Rejoice!

Finally, Maleficent conquers and erases prejudice and hatred, both literally (in the battle with Stefan) and metaphorically (in terms of her personal redemption, and the fact that she offers Stefan mercy). Love has changed her for the better, and it is a love for  _another woman_.

That, in turn, results in Maleficent and Aurora escaping the heteronormativity of the human kingdom, and returning to live in the land of the fairies. Together. Happily ever after. They're even wed in the penultimate scene.

As [this article](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/89216403881/a-lesbian-reading-of-disneys-maleficent) points out, the concluding scene resembles a marriage scene, in which Maleficent and Aurora are symbolically wed, in the sense that their love for each other has brought their respective kingdoms together. Maleficent places a crown (i.e. a ring) on Aurora in order to crown (i.e. wed) her.

 _Maleficent_  is, unexpectedly, about female unity, female empowerment, female/female love and, ultimately, marriage equality.

It continues to astound me, how queer-friendly this movie is. I keep seeing more and more queerness in it, the longer I think about it. It's astonishing.

Previous meta I’ve gathered (or written) about  _Maleficent_ :

  * [_Maleficent_ , Consent and Feminism](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1781935)
  * [_Maleficent_ : As Queer as it is Kid-Friendly](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/88656830031/maleficent-as-queer-as-it-is-kid-friendly)
  * [Untitled Tumblr post on  _Maleficent’s_  queerness](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/88655053306/spookyfbi-so-a-while-back-i-remember-seeing-a)
  * [_Maleficent_  as a Commentary on Rape Culture](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/88946199836/maleficent-as-a-commentary-on-rape-culture)
  * [A Lesbian Reading of Disney's  _Maleficent_](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/89216403881/a-lesbian-reading-of-disneys-maleficent)
  * [Maleficent as a Pansexual Anti-Deity](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/89117914266/maleficents-antlers-stand-erect-like-curved)
  * [You Need to Watch  _Maleficent_](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/post/88455598341/you-need-to-watch-maleficent)



Thank you for reading!

 

* * *

**fin.**

**Author's Note:**

> Want more meta? Follow me on [Tumblr](http://saucefactory.tumblr.com/)!


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